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Oscar Holderer
| birth_place= Prüm, Germany | death_date = | death_place= Huntsville, Alabama, United States | nationality = German, American | field = Aeronautics | alma_mater = | work_institutions = Peenemünde Fort Bliss Redstone Arsenal Marshall Space Flight Center | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = | awards = }} Oscar Carl Holderer (November 4, 1919 – May 5, 2015) was an engineer who worked for Nazi Germany during World War II before coming to the United States and working in the Apollo space program. Early life Oscar Carl Holderer was born on November 4, 1919 in Prüm, Germany to parents Richard and Helene Grawe Holderer. He has a brother, Erich Joseph, and sister Doris (Pape). Career During World War II, Holderer worked for the German military as a low-level engineer under Wernher von Braun. When the war ended, the United States selected 100 of von Braun's men to help improve the United States' rocket technology as part of [[Operation Paperclip|Operation Paperclip]]. Shortly thereafter, another 20 were selected. Holderer was part of the second 20, arriving in 1945 as part of the second group. After a few years in White Sands, New Mexico, the Paperclip team moved to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, in 1950. File:Project Paperclip Team at Fort Bliss.jpg|Project Paperclip Team at Fort Bliss (pointing the mouse will show the name)|400px|thumb rect 67 591 122 667 Kurt Lindner (no article) rect 68 501 125 577 Wilhelm Jungert (no article) rect 131 520 192 591 Kurt H. Debus rect 226 596 282 666 Eduard Fischel (no article) rect 215 536 284 585 Hans Gruene (no article) rect 267 459 306 509 Willi Mrazek (no article) rect 366 515 418 566 Helmut Schlitt (no article) rect 344 569 401 637 Herbert Axster (no article) rect 318 641 388 713 Theodor Vowe (no article) rect 422 615 490 693 Rudolf Beichel (no article) rect 418 528 484 606 Bruno Helm (no article) rect 367 441 453 513 Oscar Holderer rect 456 440 505 524 Rudolf Minning (no article) rect 506 441 541 521 Hans Friedrich (no article) rect 493 525 567 565 Guenther Haukohl (no article) rect 505 571 592 632 Friedrich Dhom (no article) rect 492 632 574 718 Bernhard Tessmann rect 595 580 660 671 Karl Heimburg (no article) rect 566 476 610 555 Ernst Geissler rect 540 407 601 473 Friedrich Duerr (no article) rect 612 494 670 548 Hans Milde (no article) rect 663 604 729 683 Hannes Lührsen (no article) rect 663 557 733 601 Kurt Patt (no article) rect 712 507 780 555 Otto Eisenhardt (no article) rect 687 455 764 503 Johann Tschinkel (no article) rect 708 375 794 451 Gerhard Drawe (no article) rect 802 430 868 513 Gerhard Heller (no article) rect 786 521 871 591 Josef Maria Boehm (no article) rect 735 592 813 678 Joachim Mühlner (no article) rect 816 593 895 686 Arthur Rudolph rect 895 563 955 619 Wilhelm Angele (no article) rect 873 494 928 558 Erich Ball (no article) rect 906 435 971 491 Bruno Heusinger (no article) rect 949 619 1018 709 Max Nowak (no article) rect 965 494 1032 575 Fritz Mueller rect 986 389 1043 478 Alfred Finzel (no article) rect 1044 439 1092 524 Herbert Fuhrmann (no article) rect 1036 551 1110 639 Ernst Stuhlinger rect 1110 620 1175 712 Herbert Guendel (no article) rect 1178 585 1225 664 Hans Fichtner rect 1093 475 1148 548 Karl Hager (no article) rect 1092 398 1167 474 Werner Kuers (no article) rect 1168 423 1224 498 Hans Maus (no article) rect 1224 403 1278 484 Herbert Bergeler (no article) rect 1226 490 1279 577 Walter Hans Schwidetzky (no article) rect 1225 581 1276 662 Rudolf Hoelker (no article) rect 1281 580 1347 673 Erich Kaschig (no article) rect 1364 558 1421 643 Werner Rosinski (no article) rect 1291 533 1361 578 Heinz Schnarowski (no article) rect 1280 461 1359 528 Fritz Vandersee (no article) rect 1306 354 1388 434 Arthur Urbanski (no article) rect 1367 436 1429 509 Werner Tiller (no article) rect 1423 510 1481 570 Hugo Woerdemann (no article) rect 1422 572 1481 662 Martin Schilling (no article) rect 1481 529 1551 621 Albert Schuler (no article) rect 1450 438 1527 506 Hans Lindenmayer (no article) rect 1466 365 1543 436 Helmut Zolke (no article) rect 1545 384 1615 461 Hans Paul (no article) rect 1542 466 1623 539 Heinrich Rothe (no article) rect 1553 543 1636 651 Ludwig Roth rect 1664 567 1756 656 Ernst Steinhoff rect 1637 477 1694 563 Gerhard Reisig (no article) rect 1621 378 1691 472 Ernst Klaus (no article) rect 1694 352 1756 424 Hermann Weidner (no article) rect 1733 506 1799 567 Hermann Lange (no article) rect 1799 553 1856 658 Robert Paetz (no article) rect 1716 429 1783 498 Helmut Merk (no article) rect 1782 386 1833 488 Walter Jacobi rect 1835 368 1896 462 Dieter Grau rect 1834 472 1894 550 Friedrich Schwarz (no article) rect 1895 516 1950 638 Wernher von Braun rect 1951 536 1999 625 Albin Wittmann (no article) rect 1911 442 1986 515 Otto Hoberg (no article) rect 1899 363 1960 429 Wilhelm Schulze (no article) rect 1987 411 2039 495 Adolf Thiel rect 2046 487 2104 562 Walter Wiesemann (no article) rect 1998 506 2043 605 Theodor Buchhold (no article) rect 2055 575 2123 654 Eberhard Rees rect 2125 522 2172 610 Otto Heinrich Hirschler (no article) rect 2097 430 2148 499 Theodor Poppel (no article) rect 2087 356 2147 426 Werner Voss (no article) rect 2039 370 2082 448 Gustav Kroll (no article) rect 2154 385 2224 470 Anton Beier (no article) rect 2169 478 2224 548 Albert Zeiler (no article) rect 2185 552 2246 631 Rudolf Schlidt (no article) rect 2246 545 2307 641 Wolfgang Steurer (no article) rect 2228 438 2280 514 Gerd De Beek (no article) rect 2302 489 2373 585 Heinz Millinger (no article) rect 2251 362 2316 435 Konrad Dannenberg rect 2320 371 2381 457 Hans Palaoro (no article) rect 2438 386 2499 490 Erich Neubert (no article) rect 2373 463 2434 542 Werner Sieber (no article) rect 2454 530 2524 617 Emil Hellebrandt (no article) rect 2378 551 2451 665 Hans Henning Hosenthien (no article) rect 2502 464 2563 531 Oscar Bauschinger (no article) rect 2564 547 2633 646 Joseph Michel (no article) rect 2563 456 2600 542 Klaus Scheufelen (no article) rect 2502 373 2578 450 Walter Burose (no article) rect 2603 457 2660 547 Karl Fleischer (no article) rect 2663 532 2713 618 Werner Gengelbach (no article) rect 2725 581 2793 670 Hermann Beduerftig (no article) rect 2820 573 2934 710 Guenther Hintze (no article) desc bottom-left When Holderer arrived at Redstone Arsenal, he rented a home from Milton K. Cummings' sister for two months. That allowed him time to design and start building a house. Unlike the rest of von Braun's team, he did not build his house on Monte Sano, but instead selected a country spot in northwest Huntsville. He continued to expand his residence over time; by 2008, the property included a house, guest house, large machine shop, and small swimming pool. He would end up living there the rest of his life. In 1955, Holderer became an American citizen. Holderer's area of expertise was aerodynamics. According to Space Historian and former NASA publicist Ed Buckbee, Holderer personally brought America's first rocket wind tunnel from Germany and set it up for early testing. At Redstone Arsenal, he worked as a mechanical engineer, designer, and fabricator. He designed the wind tunnel used for Saturn V testing and oversaw the tunnel's construction at the Marshall Space Flight Center. The Saturn V later powered Apollo 11 on its successful moon landing. Describing the project many years later, Holderer said the historical significance of the project was not felt at the time, but that he "was amazed when he heard what they had in mind." The same wind tunnel is still used by NASA for testing as of 2015. Holderer was promoted several times and found he did not like management. "I'm a hands-on man," he said. "I had been promoted .. had too many people under me." He retired in 1974, but continued to design space-mission related equipment. He designed multi-axis trainer, 5DF, a one-sixth gravity chair, and other training equipment for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Space Camp. As of 2015, the equipment is still in use. He also converted the tail of a jetliner into a movie theater for the center's museum. When Alabama decided to erect a Saturn IB at the I-65 welcome center in 1979, Holderer was asked to facilitate. "NASA said, 'If Oscar says it's OK, it's OK,'" recalled Buckbee. He remained active with the Space & Rocket Center until his death. Death and legacy Holderer died in Huntsville on May 5, 2015 at the age of 95, a few days after suffering a stroke. He was survived by his second wife, Jan Smith Dunlap Holderer, with whom he had two stepchildren: Clifford Dunlap and Mary Gaither. He had two sons with his first wife Inge Spors Holderer, to whom he was married for 50 years: Thomas and Michael. Holderer had four grandchildren and three great-grandchilden at the time of his death. He was the last known surviving member of the original Operation Paperclip team. Georg von Tiesenhausen, who emigrated later, was still alive. Upon his death, Buckabee described Holderer as "a very talented man, not only an aeroballistics expert but very accomplished in design and fabrication" Holderer received 19 patents during his life. He was inducted into the Space Camp Hall of Fame in 2008. References Category:1919 births Category:2015 deaths Category:American aerospace engineers Category:Early spaceflight scientists Category:German aerospace engineers Category:German emigrants to the United States Category:German inventors Category:German people of World War II Category:German rocket scientists Category:Marshall Space Flight Center Category:NASA people Category:Operation Paperclip Category:People from Huntsville, Alabama Category:People from Prüm